


Spring Kisses

by Pippinpaddleopsicopolis (Barnable)



Series: Whenever I'm Around You [4]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: ATLA WLW Week 2020, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cooking, Day Four: Domestic | Angst, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Girls Kissing, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Kissing, Light Angst, POV Mai (Avatar), Ty Lee Does Aerial Silks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:34:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26438764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Barnable/pseuds/Pippinpaddleopsicopolis
Summary: After finding out that Ty Lee sprained her ankle in an accident, Mai resolves to make her favorite dinner to cheer her up. The only problem? She has no culinary skills and even with the recipe, no idea what she's doing. Luckily, her girlfriend is there to help her out.
Relationships: Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Series: Whenever I'm Around You [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1931983
Comments: 10
Kudos: 37
Collections: AtLA WLW week 2020





	Spring Kisses

Ty Lee did a lot of surprising things but the one thing she never did was call.

As annoying as it could sometimes be, Ty Lee was an emoji girl through and through. She always texted when she had something to say, and if she called, then— well, honestly, Mai wouldn’t know what to do because she _didn’t_ call. She never called. The one time she called was when her car broke down and she was freaking out on the side of the road.

So, obviously, it made sense for Mai’s first thought to be that something terrible happened. Rather than waiting like she should have, Mai excused herself from her online class immediately, not sparing a thought for whatever lame lecture she’d miss while looking after her girlfriend.

“Hey, Ty Lee, you all right?” asked Mai, barely waiting before the phone reached her ear.

The response was delayed, her girlfriend’s words shaking when she finally spoke. “I don’t know.”

“What?” Her heart pounded in her chest, concern swirling in her stomach like a storm. “What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I was trying a new move and I slipped,” Ty Lee started, and instantly, Mai let out a soft sigh. Her girlfriend had been doing aerial silks since high school and she was damn good at them, but she often thought she could do more than she could. It was only a matter of time. “My foot got caught and I ended up upside down. They think I might’ve broken my ankle. I’m waiting for the x-rays now.”

“Okay. Are you in the emergency room or urgent care?”

“Urgent care.”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” said Mai, already grabbing her wallet from the table. Ty Lee often teased her for having nothing but a black wristlet, but she never felt the need to carry anything more. “If they tell you to go in before I get there and you don’t want to be alone, tell them I’m on my way. And if they tell you they can’t wait, kick their asses. Or flirt with them. That might result in less of a lawsuit.”

Ty Lee’s laugh was beautiful, and though she was still audibly stressed, it was good to hear the smack of her smile. “Okay, I’ll see you soon.”

“All right. Love you, Mai.”

“Love you too.”

The local urgent care was exactly eleven minutes away from Mai’s apartment with good traffic, but of course, she didn’t arrive that quickly. The world hated her, and she got stuck behind slow-ass grandma doing ten below the speed limit the whole way there. She was glad she was alone for the drive, at least, because she let out a few more expletives than was generally accepted and probably would’ve caused a road rage incident if the window was down.

Closer to twenty minutes later than ten, Mai finally pulled into the parking lot; stepping out of her door and yanking her wristlet back around her hand the moment she’d parked. By the time she got there, Ty Lee was already in for her x-ray (willingly, Mai confirmed), and so Mai had to sit down and wait in one of the stupidly uncomfortable chairs they had in the lobby.

She must’ve scrolled through her phone twelve times before Ty Lee finally strode out of one of the rooms down the hallway, smiling when she saw her girlfriend. Mai rose to her feet quickly, swallowing hard as she walked over to meet her. Ty Lee was still wearing her bright pink jumpsuit from aerial aerobics, but her long brown braid was frizzy and messed up, and beneath her arms were two shining silver crutches. Mai took the paperwork before she could finish it.

“Is it broken?” asked Mai, as Ty Lee waved to the woman who’d walked her out.

“No.” Ty Lee shook her head, the look of relief clear in her shining gray eyes. “It’s just badly sprained. They said I should go home and ice it for a while. It’s supposed to make it feel better. Not sure how great it’s going to work for me, though. They said I can’t do silks again for at least six weeks, and maybe even longer than that depending on how it heals.”

Mai slid the clipboard across to the man at the counter before reaching forward to give Ty Lee a hug. She’d never been great at physical affection in the past but after her and Ty Lee got together, everything just clicked into place. Something about them _worked_ in a way she couldn’t do with other people. She brushed a hand over Ty Lee’s braid before pulling away, leaving one arm around her shoulders as they moved to exit the building.

“Let’s get home and get some ice cream, all right?” She gave Ty Lee’s shoulder a squeeze, doing her best to help keep her stable as she adjusted to the crutches. “I’ll make you dinner and you can get some ice on that foot like they said.”

“ _You_ cooking?” Ty Lee giggled as they approached Mai’s small black car, giving her girlfriend a look. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that happening. I do the cooking; you just throw things in the microwave and hope you put it on the right setting. I appreciate the gesture, I do, I just don’t feel like having half mushy, half charred instant rice for dinner. Sorry.”

“No, I’m going to make those spring rolls you love. You have the recipe, right? Because I think I can figure it out if you give me something to go off of, but otherwise, you might be right. I do not want to have to go buy a new microwave in the morning.”

Ty Lee smiled and pressed a kiss to Mai’s cheek as she slid into the car, allowing her girlfriend to take her crutches and place them in the backseat. Within seconds of sitting down, Ty Lee whipped out her phone to pair it to the Bluetooth, and Mai let out only another sigh. The indie pop that Ty Lee played too much of used to annoy her, but after they got together, it started to grow on her. It wasn’t her thing, but it was so distinctly Ty Lee that she couldn’t resist it.

They spent most of the drive home talking about what happened, Ty Lee explaining how she’d messed up on her move and ended up twisting her ankle so badly, as well as who’d brought her to urgent care and helped at the studio (at Mai’s request, she wanted to make sure Ty Lee was taken care of). The drive actually took longer going home than it did getting there, but with Ty Lee there, the time seemed to fly right on by.

“Okay, where’s that recipe at?”

Mai barely waited a minute after they walked into the apartment, helping Ty Lee sit on the couch and going to find her an ice pack before handing her the TV remote. Ty Lee immediately started clicking around the chick flicks, skipping past most of them in the way she did when she was sick of all the heteronormative plots. She took a second before responding, biting down on her lip as if deep in thought.

“I think it’s in the little box in the cabinet with the mugs,” she answered, flinging her messy braid around to her other shoulder. “You know, the tin Azula gave me for my birthday a couple years ago?”

“Yeah, I know the one.” Mai nodded and turned to walk away, stopping only when she caught a glimpse of the TV. “You’re making me watch _The Summer of Sangailė_ again? Really?”

“What? You know I love this movie, Mai. It’s _my_ broken ankle, I’ll watch whatever I want to. And besides, it’s one of your favorites too. Don’t try to deny it because you can’t. If you really didn’t want to watch it, you wouldn’t come snuggle with me every time I turn it on.”

“Ever think there’s another reason I might want to snuggle with you?”

“Nope.”

Mai snorted and turned to head into the kitchen a few feet away. Their apartment was small, but it was cozy and warm, and Mai wouldn’t have traded it for the world. And yes, that included all the ridiculously fluffy decorations her girlfriend spread around it. She had her own emo things all over, so it wasn’t like she was really in any place to argue about their differing tastes.

It didn’t take long to find the recipe, and once she had it, Mai got to work. Cooking was not easy, however, and she found herself staring at the recipe for longer than she cared to admit. Several of the ingredients were unfamiliar to her, and more than once, she had to call back out to Ty Lee to ask where she kept everything (yes, the apartment was originally Mai’s but she didn’t cook or bake hardly at all, so it was really Ty Lee’s kitchen).

Though she did her best to figure everything out on her own, it was a struggle for Mai to make the stupid spring rolls and after the tenth time she called out to Ty Lee for help with something, she found a pair of arms draped around her shoulders. Ty Lee kissed her cheek, smiling as she leaned forward to read the recipe over her shoulder, and ignoring the strange look Mai gave her.

“You’re not supposed to be on that foot,” said Mai, wrapping an arm around her girlfriend’s waist.

“I’m not.” Ty Lee shrugged innocently, reaching forward to flip over the recipe card in front of them. “I’m on the other foot. But if you’re really concerned, I could walk on my hands instead. I just didn’t think you’d want my feet in the food. Or worse, whatever is on my feet from all these floors. I think my shoes are still at the studio.”

“I’ll grab them for you on my way home from work tomorrow. Where are your measuring spoons?”

“Measuring spoons? We don’t need measuring spoons. I just put in however much I want. See?” She grabbed the jars of spice that Mai had set out on the counter, shaking them into the bowl. Mai smiled when she dipped her pinky finger in for a taste, nodding approvingly. “Perfect, just the way I like it. You want to give it a taste?”

“Yeah, how about just a quick one?”

Mai used her hand to spin Ty Lee around, pressing their lips together as soon as her girlfriend was facing her. At first, Ty Lee seemed a little surprised, but she quickly melted into the kiss; her own arms draped around Mai’s shoulders and playing with the ends of her dark hair. They held each other close for a few long seconds, just sinking into the moment as the sun from the window behind them shone on their sides.

When they pulled apart, Ty Lee pressed a quick kiss to Mai’s nose, to which she rolled her eyes but couldn’t resist smiling. It was such a dorky thing that her girlfriend always did but she loved it more than she could say. Yes, it was tacky, but it was cute as shit and every time Ty Lee did it, Mai had to stop herself from pulling her into yet another kiss.

Instead of another kiss that day, she reached her hands back around Ty Lee’s waist and lifted her up onto the counter, ignoring her protests. Ty Lee laughed, swinging her legs in front of her on the table but stopping after she winced. Clearly, the motion wasn’t great on her sprained ankle. Mai chose not to say anything about it, letting her watch her own comfort level.

“Are you sure this is sanitary?” asked Ty Lee, her arms still draped over Mai’s shoulders.

“Who cares?” Mai made a face, leaning forward between Ty Lee’s legs and dropping her hands on either side of her hips. “It’s my kitchen, I can do whatever I want. Now, do you know what’s next on the recipe? I don’t mean to make you do all the work while you’re hurt, but I really have no idea what I’m doing right now.”

“I know. That’s why you keep me around.”

“Please, you know that’s not what I keep you around for.”

Rather than elaborating, Mai just pressed another kiss to Ty Lee’s forehead before pulling away, finally returning to the task they were meant to be working on. She still wasn’t entirely sure what she was supposed to be doing, but thankfully, her girlfriend did. Ty Lee took command of the rest of the cooking, directing Mai on each step and tasting everything she made—more than once on her lips rather than on a spoon.

It didn’t take too long to finish the spring rolls with both of them doing the wrapping and a few minutes later, they were both sat on the counter watching them fry. Ty Lee said nothing as she stared at the boiling oil, and Mai found it a little concerning. She was normally extremely talkative, but something about the way she gazed in silence was almost scary. Mai reached out for her hand.

“Are you all right, Ty Lee?” she asked.

Ty Lee nodded. “Just thinking about how I can’t practice for the next six weeks or so. I can’t remember the last time I took a break like that.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like it’s your fault.” Mai gave her girlfriend’s hand a squeeze, leaning in closer to her but not moving her gaze from the oil for more than a minute. She was not in the mood to deal with a fire. “I know it seems like a long time, but it’ll go by fast, I promise. And then you’ll be able to get back in there and kick ass like you always do.”

“I don’t kick ass, you kick ass. I fly around on silks.”

“Are you implying that your Tai chi lessons didn’t teach you how to kick ass? Come on, Ty Lee. It’ll be okay. We can watch all the movies you want when I get home from work to help you keep your mind off things. And you know what? I doubt it’ll even be six weeks. Your bones are crazy strong. _You’re_ crazy strong.”

“Thank you.” Ty Lee leaned into Mai’s shoulder, wrapping their arms around each other. She opened her mouth to say something else, but stopped suddenly, her eyes going wide. “We didn’t set the timer; you have to check the spring rolls!”

Mai leapt up quickly, sighing and giving Ty Lee’s hand one more squeeze before she walked over to the stove. The spring rolls were not burning, but they were finished and so she pulled them off the heat. Ty Lee smiled when Mai turned back around, holding out the dish of finished spring rolls and gesturing towards it with her free hand.

Though she wanted to see how the spring rolls turned out, Mai set them down on the counter. There was something more important she had to carry over to the couch first. She swept Ty Lee off her feet, smiling at the soft giggle her girlfriend let out as she wrapped her arms around her neck. Mai carried her all the way to the couch, then set her down on the cushions before going back for their dinner.

She brought back the dish and two bottles of Ty Lee’s ridiculous iced coffee, nudging her when she sat down. Ty Lee was already immersed in the movie she’d turned on, not bothered by the fact that she’d missed a good portion of it. She’d seen the movie enough times to know what happened while she was away. Mai wrapped an arm around Ty Lee’s shoulders, letting her snuggle up close they each reached for their spring rolls.

“So, what do you think?” asked Mai, watching as Ty Lee swallowed her first bite. “Did I make it right?”

“It’s perfect.” Ty Lee smiled, turning to look at her girlfriend. “Okay, it’s a little greasy, but I still think it’s perfect. You want a taste?”

“Absolutely.”

Mai could’ve taken a bite from the dish, but she chose to go in for another kiss instead.


End file.
